Masterpiece "Downton Abbey"

Downton Abbey cast

 

(c) Masterpiece

Get lost in the drama of Downton Abbey! WXXI-TV brings back season one for you to enjoy!

WXXI presents A Downton Abbey Marathon Monday, June 1 through Thursday, June 4 at 8 p.m. on WXXI-TV. Winner of six Emmy Awards, including “Outstanding Mini-series or Movie,” Downton Abbeydepicts the lives of the noble Crawley family and the staff who serve them, set at their Edwardian country house in 1912.

The Edwardian spellbinder, created by Oscar-winning writer Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park), stars Hugh Bonneville (Notting Hill), Maggie Smith (Harry Potter), Elizabeth McGovern (A Room with a View), Dan Stevens (Sense & Sensibility) and a country house full of other great actors.

The plot of Downton Abbey is straight out of Jane Austen, updated to the era that introduced electric lights and telephones. It is 1912. The Titanic has just gone down in the north Atlantic, taking with it the two male heirs to Downton Abbey, whose current Lord Grantham has only daughters—albeit marriageable ones. His nearest male relative is a handsome lawyer—a bachelor—living in Manchester, who soon learns the ropes of managing a sprawling country estate, with its army of devoted, sometimes bickering servants, its hunts, garden parties, and sexual intrigues.

In its depiction of the intertwined lives of servants and aristocrats, Downton Abbey recalls one of television’s most beloved programs, Upstairs Downstairs, which aired on Masterpiece (then Masterpiece Theatre) in the 1970s. One of the thrills of Masterpiece’s 40th season is a new three-part Upstairs Downstairs with a new cast of characters set in the same house at 165 Eaton Place, taking the story from 1936 to the outbreak of World War II.